The lows of rejection

Had another batch of poem returned today, so I am feeling a bit bruised! I now only have my novella out there (D Day is late December). I am going to take some time now to think about my poetry, whether to continue sending it out. I am, I suppose, despondent and confused. I read poetry by others and sometimes I wonder why this and not mine? My taste is different, I guess. Again I wonder about Creative Writing Degrees. Everyone seems to have one, or a PhD. Is this what makes them a better writer than me? Does the fact that I don't understand a lot of what is written due to the fact that I just don't understand how poetry works? Magazines all say have a unique voice, do this, do that, but at the end of the day it's down to preference. I wouldn't give house room to some of the poetry I read, yet others get all fired up by it. Then I see great poetry which never gets it's due.

I am always raw after a rejection and I've had lots this year, yet I think my writing is stronger now than ever. Obviously my work still doesn't cut it and maybe never will, so should I just not bother? Certainly I haven't had the desire to write poetry in a long time. Partly that's because of my obsession to write fiction, though there are so many great books out there perhaps I am wasting my time there too. I can only ever do what interest me and right now fiction is my preferred writing.

I have lots of poetry books and pamphlets to read. I shall enjoy them, I'm sure. Whether I will write any of my own again....we shall see. (A self wallow is well needed!)

The Poetry Book Fair

My purchases and freebies from The Poetry Book Fair

I had an early start yesterday as I wanted to arrive at The Poetry Book Fair, Conway Hall, London, in time for the first event which began at 10.30am. This was a panel discussion with three editors on how to get published. I made it there a little after 10am which gave me time to have a quick look around the main room where all the publishers were. Before I even got to the discussion I had bought two books, including one I've been dying to get my hands on - Kith by Jo Bell.

The editors for the discussion panel were Sheila Wakefield from Red Squirrel, Jane Commane from Nine Arches Press and Briony Bax from Ambit. All spoke about the worst submissions (I cannot believe people send dog-eared and coffee ringed manuscripts) and the worst covering letter (my dog likes my poetry). They then discussed how to write a covering letter - short, bio not more than 70-80 words and don't brag, get the editor's name right, put the right postage on and read the magazine first to make sure what you are writing fits with what they publish. Most of this is common sense. What did these editors look out for in submissions? An original voice, wacky, risk taking, unusual, something that holds them. Poems about the sea and birds seem to be the most popular submissions so if you write these they must stand out above all the rest. One thing at least two of them agreed on was that often they look at the poems before the covering letter (though this does not mean you can skimp on this).

There was time for some questions from the audience and one was about the internet and how much that had changed things for poets and publishers. The editors were adamant that they would not publish anything that had been published previously on a blog, Facebook or website because they wanted original previously unpublished work. There are outlets for people who wish to publish online, ezines etc. I use some publishing sites, but I know when I put them there (as on this blog) that I cannot send them to magazines or competitions. So, it is always worth thinking about that. If you hope for a poem to be published don't post it on your blog first!

This was a very interesting discussion and I liked the editors. As it happened I had visited the Red Squirrel table before the discussion and Sheila handed me some freebies! I haven't had time to go through everything in detail yet.

After the discussion I went back to main room and.....bought some more books. Things were getting out of hand and the money was running out so I decided to go and listen to some readings. Graham Fulton was reading but I then felt a tickle in my throat and was  trying not to cough. I had to leave because I knew it wasn't going to go with sips of water and I didn't want to murder his reading! Once I'd recovered I decided lunch was in order so I went over to Red Lion Garden and ate my sandwich. Afterwards I went in search of a cash machine as there were two or three other books I wanted to buy. With money in my pocket I stopped back at the gardens for a cup of tea and read my book before hitting the Poetry Book Fair again. It was much busier and was quite a squeeze and shuffle with a rucksack on my back, I went over to Telltale Press to say hello to Robin Houghton and buy her book The Great Vowel Shift. I've followed Robin's blog for some time and it was good to finally meet her. I asked her to sign her book for me. I bought one more book and then headed back to hear some readings and caught the end of Tim Wells witty poetry. Valley Press followed and I enjoyed readings from Richard Barnett, Robert Powell and Jo Reed. Lastly I stayed for Veer Books and readings from Tom Bamford, Rosa van Hensbergen and Mark O'Leary.

Maybe I am getting too old but I found the readers from Veer Books didn't do it for me at all. I know they are young and have different ideas of poetry but for me they read too fast, one had an accent and at speed I didn't have the chance to understand it. I'm afraid I switched off, at which point I decided to go home. I couldn't afford to spend anymore money anyway!

I certainly have enough books to keep me going until next years' fair. I always like to have a mix of books - books from poets I know/enjoy and new poets. I'm pleased with my purchases and shall enjoy exploring them.

Pondering on ways of writing and the influence of comedy

Rough notes for 'Austin Stapley'.
 I don't mind sharing this as it won't mean much
to you, but it does to me. This is only one
half  anyway.

While uploading the second episode of my online soap I noticed something strange. Before I cut and paste from my Word document, I take one last read through for any errors or wording I want to change. It's like I am looking at it for the first time and I find things (this morning there was a typo), like a word I'd prefer to use. I hope this doesn't mean I should have done further edits, but no I am not worried, particularly, I am excited. I am re-living the whole story and being with my characters again is like coming home. Writing this taught me a lot about planning. On the whole I worked out what was to happen in each episode a few ahead, but not by much because I didn't want a rigid structure. Often I will think things will go one way and then suddenly a character will say I want to go this way. Sometimes I had complete light bulb moments and connections I'd not even realised where there. The only real rules I had was to keep each episode within an approximate word count (1,200 - 1,600) because I don't like reading long stuff online, I'm much more a book person, and how many episodes it would run to. I also tried to keep the tension going by quick-ish scene changes.

When I first began to write it, I mainly wanted it to be fun. The serious stuff came later, and I had to edit earlier episodes to make sure it was a natural progression. My way of writing certainly seems to be an idea first, write the first chapter, or some piece in my head that needs to be set down. After a while I realise I am going nowhere! This is when the planning comes in - notes, timelines, back history, character profiles, research. Once I have enough rough stuff I continue writing. But it never ends there because other things crop up, new characters, something I want to write about which needs researching (if I have no personal knowledge).

At present I am writing a series of short chapters on Scriggler with a working title of The Adventures of Austin Stapley. This is a piece of humorous writing which started as whole scenes in my head one night when I couldn't sleep. I got as far as Chapter 5 and then I left it to concentrate on other things. I came back and couldn't see a way forward. So, yesterday I began my planning. It's a rough outline, subject to change and order. These are mere outline notes. I have only published two chapters on Scriggler so far. I want to keep a few chapters ahead because once on I cannot edit again! Not on there anyway. It is a working draft and far more immediate than the year it took me to write and edit the online soap. There is no way I could have put that up as I did it!

Writing is still a learning curve as discover new or easier ways to work, but I've always been imagination first, the rest later. Maybe that will change in time, who knows. I am not sure that I could ever write something totally serious. Humour is in my blood (I blame my Dad), I see the funny side in most things (which my Dad did). Looking at comedy my favourite TV programmes are the silly but great comedies - Dad's Army, Blackadder, Monty Python, 'Allo 'Allo. I love the humour in Doc Martin (I was beside myself on Monday when I watched) and I love Coronation Street for the same reason. It has serious issues but humour is never far away. I love reading the serious stuff, but I'm not sure if I could write it.

Ashington launched today

Hi everyone. Well, I've done it. I've posted the first episode of Ashington on to my WordPress blog (I feel I have deserted Blogger, and I so love it). I can't get the layout quite right on WordPress, such as indenting for speech (I cut and paste). I believe it can be done through coding, but life is too short, and I spent a long frustrating day putting the site together yesterday. There are niggles (I'd prefer the 'pages' on the top but looking at how to do that through help forums just blew my mind. Also I don't like the order they are in and I couldn't understand how to change it. This is  a newer version of WordPress than I have previously used which also confuse me. All the things I expected were not there or in different places. Still, it's up and running. I seem to have ending up following my own blog (not sure how that happened!)

Please do go over and read Ashington and let me know what you think. I did a last edit of the first episode before I published and felt quite proud to have achieved a finished work. My baby is in the world and all I can do is watch its tentative first steps and hope it grows into a fully fledged piece of writing which will entertain.

New Project launching tomorrow!

ASHINGTON - the online soap.

Oh boy, jittery is not the word for it. Finally, my project is ready and will launch tomorrow. What is it. you ask? It's an online soap called Ashington! I have set up the blog on WordPress (after tearing my hair out trying to learn its language). All that is missing is the first episode. That will be published tomorrow. Please do go and have a look at what's there already (info) and drop by tomorrow to read the first episode. Feedback is important to me. Please do comment.

The link for the site is here

Writing update

Sunsets and sleep (my ideas often come at night)

It seems an age since I posted anything here. There's been a lot going on but not much to talk about. Submissions happen now and then, a few poems, a couple of pieces of flash fiction, but mainly I have been editing. I changed the first chapter of my novel into third person viewpoint, added a few edits and sent it to a friend who has looked at it before. Her feedback was good, but I seem to have lost interest in it as other things have taken off. I need a great deal of time for the novel, which I don't have right now.

The more I write the more I think that the current piece is the best I've done. Hopefully that is right, but my writing has become different too. I guess I am still experimenting with genre and styles. I had decided that I would not write anything new until I had finished my current edits, so I had at least one thing ready. Then one night when I couldn't sleep a whole piece began running through my head. In the morning I just had to write it. At present I have no idea where it is going, how long it will be (there is a tentative idea on 50,000 words?) and have hardly any notes. What I can say is that it is that this is a humorous story, a bit off-the-wall and over exaggerated. The chapters are short, around 1500 words and I decided to publish as I write on the writing community website, Scriggler. I have a couple of poems there too. Do go and have a look. So far I have written five short chapters - the working title is The Adventures of Austin Stapley - but I have so far only put the first chapter on the site. Writing has stopped with this as I really feel that I have to finish the edits to the current  project, which I will tell you about soon (I hope).

I was talking to a friend recently and she said that she felt time was running out in life and she had so many things still to do. Well, I'm eight years older than her and feel much the same! So, I am going to get my writing out there, good or bad (hopefully it's good!). I do not want to spend years submitting and sitting on abandoned manuscripts until I am too old to bother. I'm not in it for the money. I love writing and sharing my writing. I may not be the best, but I'm not the worst. I know that much. It's enough. And, for someone who claimed she had nothing to talk about, I'm now going off to work. See you soon.

FREE VERSE: The Poetry Book Fair: Poetry Competition

FREE VERSE: The Poetry Book Fair: Poetry Competition: Rules: The competition is open to anyone except the judges or their families. Poems must be written in English and must be a ma...